A client wrote today to verify the piece of mail he received regarding domain renewal was a scam. YES, it was. I know a lot of small business owners, and large, that fall prey to the bait and switch to domain hosting at higher prices and big messes when you want to switch back. Be so careful and know your suppliers. Make a list of who hosts your domain.

Have you ever received a letter that looks something like this? This is actually a mild example. Some companies put in LARGE letter than you may lose your domain if you don’t sign with them and dance around the blatant dishonesty with scare tactics.

You need to know who hosts your domain. You can check with a simple “whois” lookup.

You want to know who the OWNER is, the technical contact and billing contact. You need to be at least one, if not all of them. Make sure the date is current and know when it is due to renew. Then, visit your domain registrar to verify it will renew automatically. If you have private domain registration, it may not list your name. Login to the registrar and find out. If you are stuck, call them and ask for a password reset be sent to you.

If you are ever wondering if it is a legit request, you can directly call your domain registrar, or if you have a web professional who can help you, ask them to verify you are AOK.